1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video apparatus, and more particularly, to a video apparatus and a method for controlling the same, wherein a video signal and an audio signal are synchronized.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional video apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a video/audio processing method of the conventional video apparatus. A tuner 1 tunes a broadcast signal of a channel desired by the user (S11). The tuned broadcast signal is separated into a video signal, an audio signal, and supplementary information (S12). A video/audio processor 2 receives the separated video and audio signals and transforms the received video signal into video data that can be displayed through a display unit 3 and the received audio signal into audio data that can be outputted through a speaker 5, respectively (S13). A controller 7 stores the supplementary information in a memory 6 and outputs control signals to control the respective components of the video apparatus.
In this video apparatus, it is necessary to synchronize a video signal and audio signal inputted to the video apparatus with each other to remove a time difference between the video signal and the audio signal in the process of outputting the video signal and audio signal through the corresponding signal processings. The time difference between the video signal and the audio signal results from the fact that the processing of the video signal is more complicated than that of the audio signal and is performed for a longer period of time than that of the audio signal.
For an analog television (TV) which is a representative example of the video apparatus, the volume of the video signal is not larger than that of a digital TV and the delay thereof is thus not so severe as to disturb the viewer's TV watching. However, for the digital TV, a large amount of video data must be processed, and the video data is subjected to very complex signal processings, such as decoding, deinterlacing, scaling, etc., after being received over a specific channel. As a result, the delay of the video signal is considerably severe.
In particular, for digital broadcasting of a satellite broadcasting type, a TV must receive a digital broadcast signal through a satellite antenna and set-top box (STB). At this time, the video signal delay of the STB itself is added to the internal video signal delay of the TV, resulting in a larger time difference between picture and sound. In this case, it is very inconvenient for the viewer to watch the TV.